Method and system for generating a search result list based on local information

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a method and system for effectively providing search results by referring to local information related to a searcher in response to a search request from the searcher through a communication network. The present invention provides a method for providing local information search results, comprising the steps of maintaining local information for searching related to the searcher, relating a plurality of search items related to a network information provider to a keyword and local information related to the network information provider, receiving a search request from the searcher, identifying at least more than one search item related to the keyword that meets the search request and selecting a search item related to local information matched to the local information for searching among the identified search items, and arranging at least a part of the search items according to a predetermined search item arranging method in arranging the selected search items. According to the present invention, as it is possible to provide search results with reference to the local information related to a searcher when providing search results to the searcher, more useful local information can be provided to the searcher.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a method and system for effectivelyproviding search results by referring to local information related to asearcher in response to a search request from the searcher through acommunication network, and more particularly to a method and system forselecting and effectively arranging search items related to searchinformation for searching of the searcher, in providing Internet searchresults in response to a keyword input by the searcher.

BACKGROUND ART

Today, with rapid development of communication networks such asInternet, information searching through the communication network isvery widely used. FIG. 1 shows a general network structure for providinga search result screen according to a search result of a searcher. Asearcher can access to a search engine server 140 through communicationnetworks such as Internet 130, using terminals 110 and 120 such as a PC(Personal Computer), and obtain search results in response to a keyword,by inputting the keyword. In the meantime, a network informationprovider is an enterprise or an individual for providing informationwanted by a searcher, and accesses to the Internet through networkinformation provider web servers 160 and 170. A search database 150stores a plurality of search items regarding the network informationprovider, and each of the search items includes a title of a website, anURL (Uniform Resource Locator), which is a network address of a website,description of a website, and a keyword. In case a keyword requested bya searcher is in agreement with a keyword included in the search item,the search engine server 140 provides the relevant search item to asearcher for search results. For representative search engine serverswidely used toady, there exists a naver (http://www.naver.com).

As the Internet has a close relation with the whole of our everydaylives, it has now become frequent that we search local livinginformation related to the region where we lives, through the Internet.But, website information provided to a searcher through the Internet isso massive that it has become very difficult for a searcher to determinehow to find out the website where information really wanted by asearcher is stored, among the search results.

For example, suppose a case that a searcher who lives in “Samsung-dong,Gangnam-gu, Seoul” inputs a keyword “dental clinic” to search a dentalhospital in an Internet search engine in order to receive dentalservice. In that case, according to the prior art, since not knowinglocal information regarding the searcher, the Internet search engineserver only provides search results in which local information of thesearcher is not reflected, to the searcher. Namely, for the searchresults provided to the searcher, not only the dental clinics located in“Gangnam-gu, Seoul”, but also the dental clinics located in Busan oreven in Jeju-do are provided as the search results. Further, since localinformation of the searcher is not reflected at all in the searchresults, a search item for the dental clinic located, far distant fromthe location of the searcher might be arranged as top-ranking searchresults, while a search item for the dental clinic located close to thelocation of the searcher might be arranged as low-ranking searchresults.

Also, suppose that the searcher inputs a keyword “dental clinic <AND>Gangnam-gu” into an input command window of the Internet search engineto find out a dental clinic located in the neighborhood of the searcher'home. Then, on the search result screen provided to the searcher, aplurality of search items related to the keywords “dental clinic” and“Gangnam-gu” are displayed. Among the search items, there exist searchitems regarding the dental clinics really located in Gangnam-gu, but aplurality of search items regarding the dental clinics that have nothingto do with the Gangnam-gu might be displayed due to limitation of thekeyword search method. Also, even in case of the dental clinics reallylocated in Gangnam-gu, if the dental clinic does not include information“Gangnam-gu” at its web page, such dental clinic might not be searchedthrough the Internet searching.

Therefore, there exists inconvenience that a searcher should refer toand check the search items case by case, by making a considerable effortto find out information about the region desired by a searcher.

To improve such inconvenience, lots of methods for effectively searchingand arranging a plurality of items so that a searcher may search, in theeasier and faster manner, information about the region desired by asearcher, have been suggested.

FIGS. 2A, 2B, 2C and 2D show one example of a method for searching, by asearcher, local living information related to the searcher's regionusing an Internet search engine server. Here, FIG. 2A shows an exampleof a category list related to local living information provided to asearcher. As shown in FIG. 2A, a method for classifying, according toits category, the websites that are meaningful to a searcher, as localinformation and displaying the same, is used in the naver search engineserver of NHN corporation.

If a searcher clicks the desired category by referring to a category'stitle among the category lists of FIG. 2A, the more detailedsub-category list which belongs to the above category is displayed onthe next screen. FIG. 2B shows one example of the sub-category listprovided to a searcher in case the category “health, medical care” isreferred among the top-ranking category list of FIG. 2A. If a searcherselects a sub-category “dental clinic” at this time among thesub-category list of FIG. 2B, a massive amount of website search resultsrelated to the “dental clinic” is provided to a searcher as shown inFIG. 2C, in which the website search results related to the dentalclinics scattered all over the country are arranged.

According to the prior art, to get a searcher to be able to searchdesired local information among the website search results, a methodwherein a searcher inputs desired local information for searching, onthe screen of FIG. 2C using a format of -si, -gu and the only websiteinformation related to the local information for searching is selected,classified, and provided as local information search results, has beensuggested up to now. FIG. 2D shows one example of a screen of localinformation search results provided when “Seoul-si”, “Gangnam-gu” areinput for local information in FIG. 2C.

Namely, according to the prior art, to get a user to carry out Internetinformation search related to a predetermined local information, amethod wherein a user selects a category (for example, real estate,hospital, etc.) to which information to be searched belongs, and thendelivers local information to the Internet search engine, has been used.

But, in the method for providing local information search resultsaccording to the foregoing prior art, there exists inconvenience that asearcher should search local information by passing through a pluralityof steps and a searcher should input desired local information forsearching together with a keyword. Therefore, for a searcher who intendsto repeat information searching with different keywords regarding thesame region, or to search local information whenever necessary, thereexists inconvenience that a searcher should designate a region forsearching every time upon searching.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide moreuseful information to a searcher by providing search results withreference to local information related to the searcher when providingInternet search results to the searcher.

It is another object of the present invention to get the searcher toeasily search information related to local information without inputtinglocal information whenever the searcher searches information related tolocal information.

It is still another object of the present invention to get the searcherto search information regarding a region related to a region of interestin an easier and faster manner.

It is further still another object of the present invention to providelocal information searching related to a keyword, to the searcherthrough a variety of search item arranging methods.

It is another object of the present invention to effectively providelocal advertising effect to a network information provider through localinformation search results.

It is still another object of the present invention to providecustomized local information that is fit for local characteristics ofthe searcher.

It is further still another object of the present invention to provideadvertisement opportunity through local information search results, evento a network information provider of the region where there is nowebsite.

To achieve the foregoing objects and to resolve the problems of theprior art, there is provided a method and system for generating a searchresult list based on local information to provide search results relatedto local information for searching by referring to local information forsearching designated in advance by a searcher, in response to a searchrequest through a communication network.

According to aspect of the present invention, there is provided a methodfor providing local information search results in response to a searchrequest input through a communication network by a searcher, the methodcomprising the steps of: maintaining local information for searchingrelated to the searcher, maintaining a database including a plurality ofsearch items related to a network information provider, in which thesearch items are related to a keyword and local information related tothe network information provider, receiving a search request from thesearcher, identifying at least more than one search item related to thekeyword that meets the search request and selecting a search itemrelated to local information matched to the local information forsearching, among the identified search items, and arranging at least apart of the search items according to a predetermined search itemarranging method in arranging the selected search items.

According to aspect of the present invention, there is provided a methodfor providing local information search results in response to a searchrequest input through a communication network by a searcher, the methodcomprising the steps of: receiving local information for searching fromthe searcher and storing the received local information for searching,receiving a request for a local advertisement related to localinformation, from a network information provider, maintaining aplurality of search items related to a keyword, in which the searchitems are related to the local information and the network informationprovider in response to the request for the local advertisement,receiving a search request from the searcher, identifying at least morethan one search item related to the keyword that meets the searchrequest and selecting a search item related to local information matchedto the local information for searching and the network informationprovider, among the identified search items, and arranging at least apart of the search items according to a predetermined search itemarranging method in arranging the selected search items.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provideda method for providing local information search results in response to asearch request input through a communication network by a searcher, themethod comprising the steps of: receiving local information forsearching from the searcher and storing the received local informationfor searching, maintaining a database including a plurality of searchitems related to a network information provider, in which apredetermined local keyword is selected among keywords and the searchitems are related to the local keyword and the local information relatedto the network information provider, receiving a search request from thesearcher, if the keyword that meets the search request is the localkeyword, identifying search items related to the local keyword andselecting a search item related to local information matched to thelocal information for searching, among the identified search items, andarranging at least a part of the search items according to apredetermined search item arranging method in arranging the selectedsearch items.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provideda system for providing local information search results in response to asearch request input through a communication network by a searcher, thesystem comprising: a local information processing part for receivinglocal information for searching from the searcher and storing the same,a search request receiving part for receiving a search request from thesearcher, a storing part for storing a plurality of search items relatedto a network information provider and relating the search items to akeyword and local information related to the network informationprovider, a search performing part for identifying search items relatedto a keyword that meets the search request and selecting a search itemrelated to local information that meets the stored local information forsearching, among the identified search items, in response to the searchrequest, and a search results providing part for arranging the selectedsearch items according to a predetermined search item arranging method.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a general network structure for providing a search resultscreen according to a search result of a searcher.

FIGS. 2A, 2B, 2C and 2D show one example of a method for searching, by asearcher, local living information related to the searcher's regionusing an Internet search engine server.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are flowcharts representing a process in which if asearcher accesses to the Internet search engine server and inputs asearch request, Internet search results are provided to the searcherwith reference to local information related to the searcher according tothe present invention.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a search configuration setting screen toreceive and store the local information for searching from the searcher.

FIG. 5 shows an example of storing the local information for searchingat a searcher's terminal in form of cookie file.

FIG. 6 shows one example of construction of the search items accordingto the present invention.

FIG. 7 shows one example explaining a method for arranging the searchitems according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing an inner structure of the localinformation search results providing system according to the presentinvention.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a typical computer system inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

A preferred embodiment of a method and system for providing localinformation search results will now be described in detail withreference to the accompanying drawings in the following.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are flowcharts representing a process in which if asearcher accesses to the Internet search engine server and inputs asearch request, Internet search results are provided to the searcherwith reference to local information related to the searcher according tothe present invention.

On the first place, at the step of S310, local information for searchingis received from a searcher and the received local information forsearching is stored.

According to the present invention, a searcher does not input localinformation of his interest for searching every time upon searching, butinput only one time, initially, the local information for searching.Then the input local information is stored by a local information searchresults providing system and maintained as the local information forsearching related to the searcher. Therefore, even in case the searcheraccesses to the local information search results providing system toinput a keyword without the local information for searching next time,the local information search results providing system provides a varietyof local information search service to the searcher by automaticallyreferring to the stored local information for searching.

FIG. 3B explains in detail a method for receiving and storing the localinformation for searching from the searcher at the step of S310. In thefollowing, a method for receiving and storing local information forsearching from the searcher will be described with reference to FIGS.3B, 4, and 5, and, subsequently, the step of S320 will be described.

At the step of S311, the local information search results providingsystem provides, to the searcher, a search configuration setting screenin which a searcher can set a variety of search configurations forsearch results.

An example of the search configuration setting screen is shown in FIG.4.

As shown in FIG. 4, a searcher sets search configuration for a searchresults page displaying method, a number of search results to bedisplayed, whether to store a keyword list, local information forsearching, Hangul (Korean alphabet) input setting method, and filteringof adult information, which are required when the searcher performssearching, using a search engine.

As shown in FIG. 4, the search configuration setting informationincludes local information for searching, and at the step of S320, asearcher inputs local information for searching and transmitting thesame to the local information search results providing system. At thestep of S313, the local information search results providing systemstores the local information for searching received from the searcher,at a searcher's terminal in form of cookie file.

FIG. 5 shows a structural view of a network explaining a method forstoring, by the local information search results providing system, thelocal information for searching received from the searcher, at thesearcher's terminal in form of a cookie file. The searcher accesses tothe local information search results providing system 540 through thesearcher's terminal 510 connected to the Internet 530.

The cookie file 520 is a special text file stored at a hard disk of theterminal 510, which is a client terminal, by the local informationsearch results providing system or other website in case a searcheraccesses to the local information search results providing system 540 orother website through the terminal 510. In a HTTP (Hyper Text TransferProtocol) protocol used for access to the websites, each request for thewebsite is all independent of the other requests. Therefore, the localinformation search results providing system cannot have any informationwhatsoever as to which page it has transmitted previously to theterminal 510 of the searcher or which page it has performed togetherwith the terminal 510. Accordingly, the cookie file is provided to geteach request that is independently processed in this manner to berelated each other, and such cookie file plays a role of getting thelocal information search results providing system 540 to storeinformation regarding the searcher at the searcher's terminal. Ofcourse, the cookie file can be used for detecting local information forsearching related to the searcher.

By storing local information for searching at the searcher's terminal inform of a cookie file in this manner, even in case the searcher makes asearch request in the same manner as the general Internet searching, theInternet search engine can provide more useful information to thesearcher by referring to the local information for searching stored inthe cookie file of the searcher's terminal. Namely, according to thepresent embodiment, since additional procedures such as “log in” is notrequired, local information that is both transparent and useful to thesearcher can be provided.

For another embodiment of the present invention, it may be possible toperform search configuration setting including the local information forsearching after a searcher logs in the local information search resultsproviding system. Since the searcher inputs local information forsearching related to the searcher after logging in the local informationsearch results providing system, the local information search resultsproviding system can know information about the searcher and store thelocal information at a predetermined database in relation with thesearcher's information. Also, if the searcher carries out searchingafter logging in the local information search results providing system,the local information search results providing system can identify thesearcher through the log-in procedure, and obtain the local informationfor searching stored as search configuration setting information of theidentified searcher, so that, the local information search resultsproviding system can reflect the local information for searching whenproviding the search results to the searcher.

Though the local information for searching can be reflected only in casethe searcher makes a search request after the log-in procedure accordingto the present embodiment, it is also possible to reflect the localinformation upon providing the search results even in case the searchermakes a search request using other PC (for example, in case the searcheruses a PC in a PC room) as far as the searcher sets the localinformation for searching only one time.

For still another embodiment for storing search information according tothe present invention, there exists a method wherein a predeterminedclient program is installed in the searcher's terminal and the clientprogram sets the region of interest with respect to local informationfor searching. If the searcher accesses to the local information searchresults providing system through the searcher's terminal to performsearching, the client program provides the local information of thesearcher to the search engine server, so that the search engine servercan obtain the local information for searching.

Although the foregoing three embodiments of the present invention arelimited to the case of receiving the local information of the searcherfrom the searcher, it may be also possible to extract the localinformation of the searcher from other information of the searcher andstore the same in the local information search results providing system,a cookie file of the searcher's terminal, or a file related to theclient program installed in the searcher's terminal in case the searcherdoes not explicitly input the local information of the searcher.

In the above, the local information input by the searcher is theinformation regarding the region that is wanted to be considered by thesearch engine server upon searching afterward by the searcher. Forexample, office workers who spend most of time at a company may inputlocal information of the company for the local information, whilehousewives who spend most of time at home may input local information ofhome for the local information.

For example, in case the searcher inputs his telephone number (not shownin FIG. 4) on the search configuration setting screen, it is possible toextract the local information of the searcher on the basis of thetelephone number and store the same. As a telephone exchange number isdetermined according to regions, if a database that includes localinformation according to the telephone exchange numbers is provided, thetelephone exchange number input by the searcher is compared with theabove database, so that the local information for the searcher can beobtained.

Similarly, it may be possible to extract the local information on thebasis of the company's name input by the searcher. For example, if adatabase regarding address for each company is provided, it is possibleto extract the local information of the searcher on the basis of thecompany's name input by the searcher. According to the presentembodiment, even if the searcher does not explicitly input the localinformation, it is possible to provide, to the searcher, the searchresults reflecting the local information that is related to thesearcher.

In the following, the step of S320 and the subsequent steps will bedescribed.

The step of S320 maintains a database including a plurality of searchitems related to the network information provider. At the present step,the website of the network information provider is related to the searchitem.

FIG. 6 shows one example of construction of the search items accordingto the present invention, and each search item 600 includes: a keywordregion 610; a position region on a network 620; an advertisementexplanation region 630; and a search item arranging method region 640; alocal information region 650. The keyword region 610 includes thekeywords as an identifier for identifying a specific search item from aplurality of search items, and includes one or a plurality of keywords.The position region on a network 620 includes an URL related to thenetwork information provider, so that the URL is provided to a browserprogram of the searcher when the searcher clicks on a hyper linkprovided in the search item. The advertisement explanation region 630,which a brief explanation of the website's content of the networkinformation provider, may be displayed on a screen as a part of theadvertisement in the search item. The search item arranging methodregion 640 is designed to designate a predetermined method fordisplaying the search item. According to the preferred embodiment of thepresent invention, the search item arranging method may be one among akeyword banner, knowledge search results, a sponsor link, a category, aplus site currently provided by NHN corporation.

The local information region 650 includes local information related to awebsite of the network information provider related to the search item.If the local information for searching designated by the searcher is inagreement with the local information within the search item, the searchitem including such local information is identified as a relevant searchitem that meets a search request by the searcher.

For an embodiment for designating the local information, the networkinformation provider can input the local information related to thewebsite of its own when registering the website at a storing part of thelocal information search results providing system, and the localinformation search results providing system can store the input localinformation at the local information region of the search item.

For another embodiment, even though the local information is notexplicitly received from the network information provider, the localinformation search results providing system may possibly extract theappropriate local information by referring to content of the website ofthe network information provider, and store the same at the localinformation region of the search item. For example, if the networkinformation provider is a “dental clinic” and the position informationof the clinic is described in website of the dental clinic, the localinformation search results providing system may automatically extractthe position information and store the same at the local informationregion. Unlike the above example, if the network information providerinputs information related to the region such as a telephone number, atrade name, an address, and the input information is stored in the localinformation search results providing system, it may be also possible toextract the local information of the network information provider on thebasis of that information. For example, since a telephone exchangenumber of a telephone number is determined according to regions, if adatabase that includes local information according to the telephoneexchange number is provided, the telephone exchange number input by thenetwork information provider is compared with the above database, sothat the local information of the network information provider can beobtained.

According to still another embodiment of the present invention, at thestep of S320, a predetermined keyword where region is meaningful isselected in advance as a “local keyword”. For example, since thekeywords such as “psychology”, “HTML” are not related very much to thelocal information while the keywords such as “kindergarten”, “realestate”, “hospital”, and “auto maintenance” are possibly considered tobe highly related to the local information, such keywords are selectedin advance as the local keywords and stored in a predetermined database.Therefore, if the searcher inputs a keyword “psychology”, the searchresults that reflect the local information of the searcher are notprovided to the searcher, but if the searcher inputs a local keyword“hospital”, the search results can be provided, to the searcher, in anorder of the same region as the searcher, and the neighboring region ofthe searcher, by reflecting the local information of the searcher.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the local keywordcan be determined differently region by region with consideration oflocal characteristics. For example, in case of Ganggyeong, Jeollanam-dowell known as a producing center of its salted sauce, the “salted sauce”may be a meaningful local keyword for the “Ganggyeong” province, but incase of other provinces, it may not be pertinent that the keyword“salted sauce” is selected as a local keyword. In case of “Ganggyeong”province, since there are lots of enterprises related to the “saltedsauce”, users in “Ganggyeong” province frequently perform searchingusing the keyword “salted sauce”, therefore, it is necessary tosubdivide the region and provide, to the searcher, the search resultsreflecting the local information of the searcher. But, in case of otherprovince, such necessity may be low. Accordingly, it is more preferableto differently select the local keyword considering the localcharacteristics region by region.

At the step of S330, the local information search results providingsystem receives a search request from the searcher. If the searcheraccesses to the local information search results providing system toinput a keyword or information related to the keyword, the keyword isdelivered as a search request packet to the local information searchresults providing system.

At the step of S340, the local information search results providingsystem identifies at least more than one search item related to thekeyword that meets the search request in response to the search requestfrom the searcher. When searching the search item that is in agreementwith the keyword received from the searcher, the local informationsearch results providing system refers to the local information of thesearcher stored in the step of S310. Namely, in case the localinformation for searching is stored in the cookie file, the localinformation search results providing system refers to the cookie file,and in case of the embodiment based on the log-in system, the localinformation search results providing system refers to the localinformation for searching stored in it in relation to the searcher. Inthe meantime, in case the client program is installed in the searcher'sterminal, the client program simultaneously provides the localinformation for searching when providing the search request to the localinformation search results providing system.

For still another embodiment, in case the step of S320 selects apredetermined keyword where region is meaningful as the local keywordand connects the local keyword to the search item, the step of S340judges whether the keyword that meets the search request from thesearcher is the local keyword, and if the keyword is judged to be thelocal keyword as a result of judgment, the step of S340 can identify thesearch item related to the local keyword. Namely, if the keyword inputby the searcher is not the local keyword, the search results areprovided in the same way as the prior art, and if the keyword is thelocal keyword, the search results are provided with reference to thelocal information of the searcher.

The local information search results providing system selects the searchitem related to the local information that meets the local informationfor searching stored at the step of S340, among the identified searchitems. For a preferred embodiment, the “local information that meets thelocal information for searching” may include not only the localinformation that is in agreement with the local information forsearching but also the local information closely related to the regionto be searched as well. Namely, in case the local information forsearching is “Gangnam-gu, Seoul”, the searching items that are relatedto not only “Gangnam-gu, Seoul” but also “Seocho-gu, Seoul” which is itsneighboring region, may be selected together. Also, for example, in casethere is no search item that is related to the local information“Gangnam-gu, Seoul” with respect to a specific keyword, the search itemthat is related to the local information “Seocho-gu, Seoul” which is theneighboring region of “Gangnam-gu, Seoul”, may be displayed. Also,“closely related local information” may include not only the localinformation regarding the neighboring region geographically but also thelocal information closely related due to other reasons such as cultural,social, or environmental reasons.

The step of S350 which arranges the search items selected at the step ofS340, arranges the search items according to a predetermined search itemarranging method. According to the present invention, it is possible toarrange the selected search items according to a variety of arrangingmethods. If a search request is received from the searcher, the searchresults are provided to the searcher on the basis of the localinformation for searching related to the searcher. If a keyword “dentalclinic” is input by the searcher and the local information for searchingrelated to the searcher is “Gangnam-gu, Seoul”, the search items whoselocal information is “Gangnam-gu, Seoul” are displayed at the upper parton the screen and the “dental clinic”-related search items related tothe rest regions are displayed at its lower part, among the found searchitems.

According to further still another embodiment of the present invention,after the search items having the local information that is in agreementwith the “Gangnam-gu, Seoul” are displayed, the “dental clinic”information related to the neighboring region (for example, Seocho-gu,Seoul) of the “Gangnam-gu, Seoul”, is subsequently displayed. Therefore,according to the present embodiment, even if the searcher does notseparately input the local information when making a search request atthe Internet search engine server (namely, even if the searcher inputssimply the “dental clinic”), the search results where the localinformation of the searcher is reflected can be obtained.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, in response to asearch request from the searcher, the search item that is highlyappraised by users or the web page of the network information providerwho has paid much for its advertisement charge will be preferentiallyarranged and provided to the searcher, among the search items that arein agreement with the local information.

FIG. 7 shows one example explaining a method for arranging the searchitems according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Asshown in FIG. 7, for the arranging method, there exist a keyword banner710, knowledge search results 720, a sponsor link 730, a category 740,and a plus site 750.

The arranging method of the “keyword banner 710” is to display thesearch items in form of a banner having a predetermined sizemanufactured with a flash animation or an image, at the first page wherethe search items of a specific keyword are displayed as shown in theright side of FIG. 7. In the arranging method of the “keyword banner710”, advertising effects may be enhanced by monopolistically insertinga banner of only one single enterprise or several enterprises.

The arranging method of the “knowledge search results 720” is torepresent, in form of questions, the website and the characteristics ofthe network information provider. In this arranging method, the keywordand the question itself can be linked to the website of the relevantenterprise and the search items are positioned at the uppermost part ofan integrated search results and an advertisement region is provided upto a predetermined ranking for each keyword.

The arranging method of the “sponsor link 730” is to display a title anda description of the website at the first page of the specific keywordsearch results. In this arranging method, the search items arepositioned at the uppermost part of the integrated search results andthe directory search results, and the advertisement region is providedup to a predetermined ranking for each keyword.

The arranging method of the “category 740” is to classify the searchitems into a plurality of categories depending on content of the webpage related to the search item and display a list of the searchcategories, in displaying numerous search items related to the keyword.For example, if the keyword “dental clinic” is input, the information ofthe relevant region is displayed in form of a category such as “dentalsurgery”, “dental clinic”, “dental hospital”, and the like.

The arranging method of the “plus site 750” is to show additionalinformation and an image of the web page together with the searchresults. In this arranging method, publicity content directly describedby the network information provider is introduced and the registrationprocess is swiftly processed, whereby easy and fast registration serviceis provided.

For a preferred embodiment, it is possible to get the networkinformation provider of the web page related to the search item, toselect the search item arranging method and arrange the search itemaccording to the selected arranging method.

For another embodiment of the local information search results providingsystem shown in FIG. 3A, the step of receiving, from the networkinformation provider, a local advertisement request related to the localinformation, may be additionally included. Namely, for predeterminedlocal information, a local advertisement request is received from thenetwork information provider, and the search items are related to thenetwork information provider who has made the local advertisementrequest. Also, the website of the network information provider who hasmade the local advertisement request is selected and arranged in thelocal information search results, whereby the website of the networkinformation provider is advertised on the basis of the local livinginformation, which can enhance the advertising effect of the networkinformation provider even more.

For the method for arranging the selected search items, one among theabove described keyword banner, the knowledge search results, thesponsor link, the category, and the plus site, may be used.

The present embodiment which includes the local advertisement,additionally includes the step of determining a predeterminedadvertisement charge for the local advertisement, and the advertisementcharge may be determined differently depending on the local informationrelated to the local advertisement request. For example, in case of thekeyword “plastic surgery”, since it is expected that search frequencyfor the local information of “Gangnam-gu” where the plastic hospitalsare concentrated much more, is much greater than the search frequencyfor other city or other-gu, the advertisement charge may be determinedwith consideration of the advertisement effect for each region. Foranother embodiment, the advertisement charge may be determined dependingon a size of the region related to the local advertisement. For example,the advertisement charge may be differently estimated depending onwhether it is a local advertisement for -gu or it is a localadvertisement for -dong. For still another embodiment of the presentinvention, if there is no local advertisement for unit of -dong when thesearch results are provided to the searcher, the local advertisement forunit of -gu to which its dong belongs, is displayed.

Also, since the advertisement effect may differ depending on the searchitem arranging method, the advertisement charge may be differentlydetermined depending on the search item arranging method.

For another embodiment in determining the advertisement charge, theadvertisement charge may be determined with consideration of frequencyof page view or reference of the search item selected for thearrangement.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, only atleast a part of a search list among the identified search items ispreferentially arranged according to the search item arranging method ofthe present invention, and the rest search items are arranged accordingto the arranging method independent of the above method. For theindependent arranging methods, a number of references of the website ofthe network information provider related to the search item, usefulnessof the information posted on the website, degree of perfection of thewebsite, an order of the website's name, appraisal of a user, may beconsidered.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, it is possibleto receive “network information” from the network information providerto register the information in the database even if there is no websiteof the network information provider, and to relate the registerednetwork information to the search item. For the network information,there exist a trade name, a telephone number, a category, an address,map search information, business explanation, image information, avariety of additional information of the network information provider.If the local information of the network information provider is matchedto the local information of the searcher each other upon search requestby the searcher, it is possible to provide the network information tothe searcher. Therefore, according to the present invention, it ispossible to provide an advertisement opportunity through the localinformation search results, even to the small-scale network informationprovider who has no website in its region.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing an inner structure of the localinformation search results providing system according to the presentinvention.

As shown in FIG. 8, the local information search results providingsystem 800 includes: a local information processing part 810; a searchrequest receiving part 820; a storing part 830; a search performing part840; and a search results providing part 850.

The local information processing part 810 receives the local informationfor searching from the searcher, and stores the received localinformation at the storing part 830. According to the embodiment of thepresent invention, the local information processing part 810 can providea search configuration setting screen to the searcher in order toreceive the local information for searching from the searcher, and thelocal information for searching received from the searcher can be storedas the search configuration setting information. For another embodiment,the cookie file stored at the searcher's terminal or the client programinstalled at the searcher's terminal may be used. As the details for thecookie file and the client program have been already described in theforegoing embodiments, refer to the relevant part of the specification.

The search request receiving part 820 receives a search request from thesearcher. The search request receiving part 820 is connected to asearcher's PC through the communication network such as the Internet.According to the present invention, the searcher possibly carries outlocal information searching by only inputting a keyword withoutinputting the local information upon search request.

The storing part 830 includes a plurality of search items related to thenetwork information provider. A plurality of the search items is relatedto the keyword and also related to the local information related to thenetwork information provider.

The storing part 830 can directly receive the local information from thenetwork information provider or extract the local information related tothe network information provider from the web page of the networkinformation provider and the configuration setting information and storethe same as the local information.

The search performing part 840 identifies the search item related to thekeyword that meets the search request in response to the search requestreceived from the searcher, and also selects the search item related tothe local information matched to the local information for searching,among the identified search items.

The search results providing part 850 arranges the search items selectedby the search performing part 840 according to a predetermined searchitem arranging method. For the search item arranging method, there exista keyword banner, knowledge search results, a sponsor link, a category,and a plus site.

Embodiments of the present invention further relate to computer readablemedia that include program instructions for performing variouscomputer-implemented operations. The media may also include, alone or incombination with the program instructions, data files, data structures,tables, and the like. The media and program instructions may be thosespecially designed and constructed for the purposes of the presentinvention, or they may be of the kind well known and available to thosehaving skill in the computer software arts. Examples ofcomputer-readable media include magnetic media such as hard disks,floppy disks, and magnetic tape; optical media such as CD-ROM disks;magneto-optical media such as floptical disks; and hardware devices thatare specially configured to store and perform program instructions, suchas read-only memory devices (ROM) and random access memory (RAM). Themedia may also be a transmission medium such as optical or metalliclines, wave guides, etc. including a carrier wave transmitting signalsspecifying the program instructions, data structures, etc. Examples ofprogram instructions include both machine code, such as produced by acompiler, and files containing higher level code that may be executed bythe computer using an interpreter.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a typical computer system inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

The computer system includes any number of processors 940 (also referredto as central processing units, or CPUs) that are coupled to storagedevices including primary storage 960 (typically a random access memory,or “RAM”), primary storage 970 (typically a read only memory, or “ROM”).As is well known in the art, primary storage 960 acts to transfer dataand instructions uni-directionally to the CPU and primary storage 960 isused typically to transfer data and instructions in a bi-directionalmanner. Both of these primary storage devices may include any suitabletype of the computer-readable media described above. A mass storagedevice 910 is also coupled bi-directionally to CPU 940 and providesadditional data storage capacity and may include any of thecomputer-readable media described above. The mass storage device 910 maybe used to store programs, data and the like and is typically asecondary storage medium such as a hard disk that is slower than primarystorage. A specific mass storage device such as a CD-ROM 920 may alsopass data uni-directionally to the CPU. Processor 940 is also coupled toan interface 930 that includes one or more input/output devices such assuch as video monitors, track balls, mice, keyboards, microphones,touch-sensitive displays, transducer card readers, magnetic or papertape readers, tablets, styluses, voice or handwriting recognizers, orother well-known input devices such as, of course, other computers.Finally, processor 940 optionally may be coupled to a computer ortelecommunications network using a network connection as shown generallyat 950 With such a network connection, it is contemplated that the CPUmight receive information from the network, or might output informationto the network in the course of performing the above-described methodsteps. The above-described devices and materials will be familiar tothose of skill in the computer hardware and software arts.

The hardware elements described above may be configured (usuallytemporarily) to act as one or more software modules for performing theoperations of this invention.

The foregoing descriptions of specific embodiments of the presentinvention have been presented for purposes of illustration anddescription. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit theinvention to the precise forms disclosed, and obviously manymodifications and variations are possible in light of the aboveteaching. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to bestexplain the principles of the invention and its practical application,to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize theinvention and various embodiments with various modifications as aresuited to the particular use contemplated. It is intended that the scopeof the invention be defined by the claims appended hereto and theirequivalents.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

As described above, according to the present invention, the searcher caneasily carry out searching of the local living information withoutrepeatedly inputting the local information for searching.

According to the present invention, it is possible to arrange the localinformation search results in a variety of arranging methods selected bythe network information provider.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide effectiveadvertisement marketing opportunities to the network informationprovider.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide localsearch results that are fit for the characteristics of each region.

1. A method for refining Internet search results in response to a searchrequest input through a communication network by a searcher utilizing akeyword and a local information of the searcher, the method comprisingthe steps of: receiving a first local information from the searchercomprising at least a location information of the searcher related tothe searcher; maintaining the first local information for searchingrelated to the searcher; receiving a second local information comprisingat least a location information of one or more of search items relatedto a network information provider, wherein each search item correspondsto a web page on the Internet; maintaining a database including thesearch items related to the network information provider, wherein someof the search items are related to the keyword of the searcher;receiving the search request input through an Internet search engine bythe searcher, the search request utilizing both the keyword and themaintained first local information related to the searcher; identifyingat least more than one search item related to the keyword that matchesthe search request, when the keyword that matches the search request isa local keyword, identifying search items related to the local keywordand selecting the search item related to the second local informationmatched to the first local information, among the identified searchitems; and arranging at least a part of the search items according to apredetermined search item arranging method in arranging the selectedsearch items so as to provide Internet search results according to thefirst local information of the searcher, wherein the local keyword isdifferently selected depending on region with consideration ofcharacteristics of the region.
 2. The method according to claim 1,wherein the step of arranging at least a part of the search itemsaccording to the predetermined search item arranging method comprisesthe step of arranging the selected search item preferentially.
 3. Themethod according to claim 1, wherein the step of arranging at least apart of the search items according to the predetermined search itemarranging method, is to preferentially arrange the search item relatedto the second local information that is in agreement with the firstlocal information and subsequently arrange the search item related tothe second local information closely related to the first localinformation.
 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step ofmaintaining the first local information for searching related to thesearcher comprises the step of storing the first local information assearch configuration setting information of the searcher, and the stepof receiving the search request input through the Internet search engineby the searcher comprises the step of obtaining the first localinformation from the stored search configuration setting information. 5.The method according to claim 4, wherein the step of storing the firstlocal information as the search configuration setting information of thesearcher and the step of receiving the search request input through theInternet search engine by the searcher comprise a log-in procedure bythe searcher.
 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step ofmaintaining the first local information for searching related to thesearcher comprises the step of storing the first local information inthe form of a cookie file at a searcher's terminal, and the step ofreceiving the search request input through the Internet search engine bythe searcher comprises the step of accessing to the cookie file andobtaining the first local information.
 7. The method according to claim1, wherein the step of maintaining the first local information forsearching related to the searcher comprises the step of installing aclient program at a searcher's terminal, and the step of receiving thesearch request input through the Internet search engine by the searchercomprises the step of receiving the first local information using theclient program installed in the searcher's terminal.
 8. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the step of maintaining the databaseincludes the step of receiving the second local information from thenetwork information provider.
 9. The method according to claim 1,wherein the step of maintaining the database includes the step ofextracting the second local information from a website of the networkinformation provider.
 10. The method according to claim 1, wherein thestep of maintaining the database includes the step of extracting thesecond local information from configuration setting information of thenetwork information provider.
 11. The method according to claim 10,wherein the step of extracting the second local information comprisesthe steps of: maintaining a telephone exchange number and the secondlocal information regarding the telephone exchange number, for atelephone number database; obtaining information of the telephoneexchange number, in which the configuration setting information includesthe telephone exchange number of the network information provider; andidentifying the second local information that is in agreement withinformation of the telephone exchange number of the network informationprovider with reference to the telephone number database.
 12. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the predetermined search item arrangingmethod is one among a keyword banner, knowledge search results, asponsor link, a category, and a plus site.
 13. The method according toclaim 1, wherein the step of maintaining the database includes the stepof receiving network information from the network information providerto register the network information at a database, and relating theregistered network information to a plurality of the search items.
 14. Amethod for refining Internet search results in response to a searchrequest input through a communication network by a searcher utilizing akeyword and a local information of the searcher, the method comprisingthe steps of: receiving a first local information from the searchercomprising at least a location information for searching from thesearcher and storing the received first local information for searching;maintaining the first local information searching related to thesearcher; maintaining a second local information comprising at least alocation information of one or more of search items for searchingrelated to the searcher, wherein each search item corresponds to a webpage on the Internet; receiving a request for a local advertisementrelated to the second local information, from a network informationprovider; maintaining a plurality of search items related to a keyword,in which the search items are related to the second local information inresponse to the request for the local advertisement; receiving thesearch request input through an Internet Search engine the the searcher,the search request utilizing both the keyword and the maintained firstlocal information related to the searcher; identifying at least morethan one search item related to the keyword that meets the searchrequest, when the keyword that matches the search request is a localkeyword, identifying search items related to the local keyword andselecting the second local information and search item related to thesecond local information matched to the first local information, amongthe identified search items; and arranging at least a part of the searchitems according to a predetermined search item arranging method inarranging the selected search items so as to provide Internet searchresults according to the first local information of the searcher,wherein the local keyword is differently selected depending on regionwith consideration of characteristics of the region.
 15. The methodaccording to claim 14, further comprising the steps of: determining apredetermined advertisement charge for the local advertisement, whereinthe advertisement charge is differently determined depending on thelocal information related to the local advertisement.
 16. The methodaccording to claim 14, further comprising the steps of: determining apredetermined advertisement charge for the local advertisement, whereinthe advertisement charge is determined with consideration of frequencyof page view or reference of the selected search item.
 17. A system forrefining Internet search results in response to a search request inputthrough a communication network by a searcher utilizing a keyword and alocal information of a searcher, the system comprising: a localinformation processing part for receiving the first local informationfor searching from the searcher and storing the first local information;a search request receiving part for receiving the search request inputthrough an Internet search engine by the searcher, the search requestutilizing both the keyword and the maintained first local informationrelated to the searcher; a storing part for storing a plurality ofsearch items related to a network information provider and relating thesearch item to a keyword and the second local information related to thenetwork information provider, wherein each search item corresponds to aweb page on the Internet; a search performing part for identifyingsearch item related to a keyword that meets the search request, when thekeyword that matches the search request is a local keyword, identifyingsearch items related to the local keyword and selecting a search itemrelated to the second local information matched to the first localinformation, among the identified search items, in response to thesearch request, wherein the second local information matched to thefirst local information comprises both the second local information thatis in agreement with the first local information and the second localinformation that is closely related to the first local information; anda search results providing part for arranging the selected search itemsaccording to a predetermined search item arranging method so as provideInternet search results according to the first local information of thesearcher, wherein the local keyword is differently selected depending onregion with consideration of characteristics of the region.
 18. Acomputer-readable recording medium, in which a program for implementinga method according to claim 1 in a computer, is recorded.
 19. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the second local information that isclosely related to the first local information comprises at least one ofclosely related location information, closely related culturalinformation, closely related social information, and closely relatedenvironmental information.
 20. The method according to claim 14, whereinthe second local information that is closely related to the first localinformation comprises at least one of closely related locationinformation, closely related cultural information, closely relatedsocial information, and closely related environmental information. 21.The method according to claim 17, wherein the second local informationthat is closely related to the first local information comprises atleast one of closely related location information, closely relatedcultural information, closely related social information, and closelyrelated environmental information.
 22. The method according to claim 1,wherein the second local information matched to the first localinformation comprises both the second local information that is inagreement with the first local information and the second localinformation that is closely related to the first local information.